PlaneShift

A lot of meat to the game once you start to wrap your head around how the game works.

I played the game a ton back in high school, but honestly, you should avoid it. It's been developed for literal decades and has had plenty of drama. The biggest I ever remember it was during community roleplay events (the game is roleplay-enforced; no one ever played on the non-RP servers) was around 120 people around the early 2010s. It seems to rarely break 20 players now. Even outside that, the game was full of bugs, convoluted progression systems and tedious grind. Cool world, neat ideas, but shoddy execution, and you can't imagine how much worse it is now that they ported to unreal and are using AI for VO.

A choice for those who want to immerse in game world and remember things in game instead of relying on UI

[h1] Game is still unfinished after 24 years of "development". Don't waste your time.[/h1] Never heard of this game, but it definitely feels like a game made in 2001. And guess what, I was close, it was actually 2002. And also, guess what, the game is still [b] incomplete [/b].[b] [u]24 years[/u][/b] and the game is still incomplete, still rubber-bands, and is completely devoid of players. And then on top of that, they decide to migrate it to Unreal Engine and release it on Steam in 2026? Why? This project should have been archived into an Open-Source Github Repo years ago. But I guess whoever is funding them is still paying enough money to keep the lights on

Don't let the Steam hours fool you, I've easily sunk thousands of hours in to this game. [h1]An open development, forever completely free MMO[/h1] PlaneShift is not like other MMOs. Yeah, I know you've heard that one before... but this is actually true. This game has been in constant development and iteration for nearly 30 years, many contributors coming and going, but some have stayed on even today. Back in legacy PlaneShift, you could change a lot about the client, and the code (minus any assets, quests, and other game content) was open source. With the move to UE5, this is bit more complicated due to the UE5 engine license and I believe there are some marketplace assets that complicate making this open source. The open development concept has never gone away however, in fact I'd say it's become stronger. The currently sole developer, Talad, has been running daily streams on Youtube and Twitch showing exactly what he's working on, involving the entire community in the process, iterating on the game and adding new things, fixing others. Contributors have come and gone, and there are still more eager to do what they can for this project, although the project definitely could use more help! The game itself is great, but it's rough around the edges. Keep in mind that this MMO is completely free, not a single microtransaction, no subscription fees, no demos... free as in air. It's not an MMO where you leave a stinky review because there are bugs or incomplete features and then wait for them to fix it in 3 months, PlaneShift is not the project with that sort of backing. What you put in to PlaneShift will determine what you get out of it, whether it's playing for hundreds and even thousands of hours, doing all the quests, seeing all the sights, working on all the skills... or preferably in addition to that, volunteering your time and skills to help this game become the best completely free MMO. The Discord server is where most of this magic happens, with a channel for bugs, a channel for ideas (quite a few get implemented!), and a channel for those who are actively volunteering and contributing to PlaneShift beyond playing it. Did you know we have an open task list with many ways [b][i]anyone[/i][/b], without any required skills or prerequisites, can contribute to the project? Many people have contributed to making this game what it is now, some have stayed on, some have come and gone, maybe even gotten careers in the disciplines they used to contribute to this project. All of these reasons are why my recommendation is conditional. I cannot recommend this game to just anyone, as the truth is, most gamers will not have the patience to see this game through with the cracks, bumps, and scuffs that give it its character and charm. Even fewer of those people will contribute much to it sadly, though I hope I am wrong on that. For anyone who wants to be a part of contributing to, and becoming part of the history of, the best completely free open development concept MMO running for nearly 30 years and still going -- whether that's as a player, contributor or both -- I absolutely recommend PlaneShift, and look forward to seeing you!

everything seems quest driven, even most of the smaller interactions with the npcs, nice to be given challenges

Very fine!